A MURAQQA’ ALBUM PAGE WITH A PORTRAIT OF A STANDING LADY
Isfahan school, Safavid Iran, dated 1029 AH (1620 AD), signed by Reza 'Abbasi (ca.1565–1635)

Persian manuscript, and pen and ink drawing heightened with gold on buff paper, the central portrait depicting a standing lady in a Safavid dress inclining to her right, lifting the gathered drapery of her veil and the neck of a wine bottle in the right hand, a small wine cup in the left, surrounded by the foliage of a pruned tree and Chinese cloudbands, gold highlights to her sash, buttons, collar, bottle, and cup, the three rows of her necklace in blue and red, the narrow side borders enhanced with gold foliating branches, the five pairs of poetic hemistiches in black ink Persian nasta’liq script quoting Hekayat 23 from book 9 of Sa'di's Bustan (lines 7, 8, below, and lines 11, 12, 13 above), in diagonal chalipa format against a ground of gold foliating branches, signed and dated near the tree stump by the right margin ‘Kamineh (the lesser) Reza 'Abbasi 1029’, and similarly signed to the lower right, marked in the lower right margin with an official library stamp inscribed ‘observed’, dated 1305 AH (1887 AD), the number '2519' on the lower left in pencil, set within blue, gold, and red rules, another blue inspection stamp on pale blue paper on reverse, mounted on modern cream cardboard, the text panel 26.7cm x 14cm, the folio 32cm x 21cm, 45.7cm x 35.5cm including the mount.

Provenance: Christie's London, 7 October 2008, lot 168.

Dimensions: the text panel 26.7cm x 14cm, the folio 32cm x 21cm, 45.7cm x 35.5cm including the mount